INDIAN NEWS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 48, 4 February 1843, Page 191

INDIAN NEWS.

[From the Colonial Observer, December 17th.] News from Bombay, by the Fortitude, arrived at Singapore, extend to the 30th August. The Englishman of the 25th August contains an account of the failure of the house of Messrs. Fergusson (Brothers) and Co., bankers, Calcutta. It is proposed to wind up the affairs of the firm by means of trustees. The amount of their debts is stated at 12,400,000 rupees. It is thought probable that the GovernorGeneral will levy a tax of twenty-five per cent, upon staff appointments and the allowances of the civil servants. The following have been appointed by the Governor-General as the Presidency Finance Committee, in accordance with the notification of his lordship, viz.: — G. A. Bushby, Esq., C.S. of the General Department, F. Millett, Esq., c/ the Judicial Department, T. R. Davidson, Esq., C.S. Revenue Department, and C. B. Greenlaw, Esq., of the Marine Department. Suspicions are v entertained that an attempt bad been made to poison the artillery men at Kamptee by mixing poison with the bread, which is prepared by natives. The circumstance is undergoing investigation by a committee, and & portion of the bread has been forwarded to the Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College to be analyzed. A great number of the "peasantry" of the lower provinces met in Government Place on the 10th August, to petition the Deputy Governor to remit the land rent for the season, the rain having caused a shortcoming in their crops. The palke bearers in Calcutta had threatened to strike, in consequence of some of a low caste having ventured to come upon stations hitherto appropriated to the higher castes. From late intelligence from Affghanistan it seems that the married officers who are prisoners, and who have been charged with deserting their posts in action to place their wives and themselves under Akbar Khan's protection, regard Lady Sale as the person who originated this charge. One of the prisoners, Lieutenant Eyre, has transmitted to the Governor-General's Secretary a full narrative of the Cabool disasters, and a list of the killed and wounded, requesting that it might be published as soon as possible. It is stated in a letter from one of the married prisoners to the Editor of the Englishman, that the parties who went over to Akbar Khan at Koord Cabool, did so by order of General Elphinstonc. Captain M'Kellar, of the Colombo, has been appointed to the command of the India steamer. Lord Ellenborough was to leave Allahabad on the 24th August, and expected to reach Simlah, where he is to remain, about the Bth of September. The latent accounts from Jellalabad represent the force as being still inactive and expecting to be ordered to retire as soon as the cattle arrived and the weather became more moderate. Large supplies of cattle were on their way through the Punjab to Jellalabad. The heat still continued to be very great, but the sickness appeared to be abating. The fort of Futtyabad, on the Cabool road, is occupied by a strong detachment of Sappers and Miners and two hundred of Tait's horse. On the 24th,July, a reconnoisance was made by Brigadier Monteith in the neighbourhood of some forts belonging to Sekunder Khan. In this affair three men were killed and twenty-three wounded. On the 26th the brigade attacked the enemy and routed them, destroyed all the forts, to the number of forty, and burnt or carried away all the property of Sekunder Khan. Captains Troup and Laurence arrived at Jellalabad on the 2d August from Cabool, on parole. It was thought that their mission had reference to Dost Mahomed. The latest accounts from the prisoners represent them as all well, and Akbar Khan doing all he can to make them comfortable. It appears from the Eastern Star, of the 28th August, that orders had been issued for an advance on CabooL No casualty had occurred among the European officers since their surrender. The report of ColoneLPalmer's death is contradicted. The officers are said to be all in the town, of which they have the range ; but the Sipahies are distributed among the neighbouring villages, where they are obliged to perform the most degrading duties, being treated as slaves. They look forward with confidence to the advance of the forces to free them from their miserable condition. The cholera is raging with frightful violence at Rangoon, and amongst the neighbouring Villages — two towns bad been deserted by their inhabitants. A singular case of embezzlemeut had just been adjudicated in the Bengal presidency, which very much unhinged the confidence of the natives in the British adminUtrqtioa of justice. The fact? of the case are shortly as follows : — Dyal Chand Bysack, the Deputy Treasurer in Calcutta, an accredited officer of Government, some time in December last received large sums of money from natives, in his official capacity at the Treasury, with which be immediately absconded. The parties who had paid him the money applied to Government for repayment, and, not obtaining it,

instituted an action in- the Supreme Court, and obtained a verdict iv their favour. Government was sentenced to refund the amount, because it had been paid to its acknowledged agent. The delinquent, after having long eluded the vigilance of the police, was- at length seized, an action for embezzlement was brought against him by his masters, whom he had defrauded — and he ,vas acquitted on points of law. The law, therefore, in the estimation of the natives, is inconsistent with itself. The verdict in their favour formerly given being construed into a verdict against the prisoner by implication. In accordance with a requisition addressed to the Sheriff of Madras on the 15th August, by certain respectable native inhabitants, a meeting was held at the Hall of the Hindoo Literary Society, for the purpose of presenting a farewell address to Lord Elphinstonc. Captain W. G. Burn, the Sheriff, having opened the meeting, and Streenevassa Pillay, Esq., taken the chair, the address was read by B. Pooroo Hothum Naidoo, a native. The character of the document, says the Athenceum, was such as we should have expected from the occasion. The sentiments it embodied evinced the lively gratitude and attachment which the native community felt towards his lordship for the deep interest he had invariably taken in their civil, political, and intellectual welfare. The number present was large, and demonstrated how anxious they were to further the object in view. Six native gentlemen were requested to form themselves into a committee for the purpose of collecting subscriptions for the establishment of scholarships in the Madras University in the name of his lordship. It appears, from the Englishmaruoi the 20th of August, that there is a good prospect of a semimonthly communication by steam between England and India being brought into operation, through an arrangement between Government and the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The plan embraces a monthly communication by steam with China, of which Singapore will also have the benefit. The Ceylon Herald of the 2d Augusfc*devotes_ a long supplement to a report of a debate in the Legislative Council on the second reading of a bill " for the prevention of mischief by dogs." The bill proposed that all dogs found running at large should be forthwith destroyed — a severe measure, which was so repugnant to the humane feelings of Mr. Urquhart Stewart, that he moved as an amendment, that a tax of Is. 6d. per annum be paid by every person owning and possessing a dog. The amendment, however, was lost and the bill carried. We learn, from the Bombay Times, that a specimen of rock containing quicksilver had been some time since forwarded by a Dr. Malcolmson at Aden to the Bombay Government, and has since been examined and reported on by the Assay Department of the Mint. The rock is a reddish coloured vesicular slag, which would, if found as an ordinary trap, be considered as a variety of amygdaloid, containing a considerable quantity of red oxide of iron. The mercury is found in small globules adhering to the sides of the cavities, so minute in general as scarcely to he visible to the naked eye, though readily discernible under a glass. When struck upon a board or table, they are shaken out and coalesce in a globule of considerable magnitude. From the fluidity and perfect spherity of -this globule, the purity of the metal is discernible without actual analysis. This rock abounds very much all over Aden, and the mineral, it is expected, will soon form a valuable article of commerce. * *